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Quotes

Why has the government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint.

—Alexander Hamilton, 1787

No free man shall be taken or imprisoned or dispossessed or outlawed or exiled, or in any way destroyed, nor will we go upon him, nor will we send against him except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.

—Magna Carta, 1215

I say violence is necessary. It is as American as cherry pie.

—H. Rap Brown, 1967

There is no method by which men can be both free and equal.

—Walter Bagehot, 1863

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.

—Thomas Jefferson, 1787

The Revolution is made by man, but man must forge his revolutionary spirit from day to day.

—Che Guevara, 1968

The vice presidency isn’t worth a pitcher of warm piss.

—John Nance Garner, c. 1967

I’m president of the United States, and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli!

—George H. W. Bush, 1990

The first requirement of a statesman is that he be dull.

—Dean Acheson, 1970

The more corrupt the republic, the more numerous the laws.

—Tacitus, c. 117

There is nothing more tyrannical than a strong popular feeling among a democratic people.

—Anthony Trollope, 1862

Do that which consists in taking no action, and order will prevail.

—Laozi, c. 500 BC

I am invariably of the politics of the people at whose table I sit, or beneath whose roof I sleep.

—George Borrow, 1843